News and workshops

• Wednesday workshops - Spring Term 2012 
• Printable worksheets
• Maths lessons on video
• Maths leaflets
• Interactive help with algebra
• Help with . . . partial differentiation
• Help with . . . preparing for the Numeracy QTS skills test
• Help with psychometric tests
• Help with statistics and probability
• How to solve it  
• History of Mathematics with Marcus du Sautoy

Printable worksheets

For a very large selection of worksheets, please visit the Maths Support Centre's Blackboard site.

(Drop in to see us, or send an email, if you are not already enrolled on our Blackboard site.)

Maths lessons on video

For a wide range of short videos, visit www.mathtutor.ac.uk 

For more videos, visit www.khanacademy.org and choose the subject you want.

Maths leaflets

For a wide range of printable leaflets, visit www.mathcentre.ac.uk  and select the topic you want.

Interactive help with algebra

To practice solving linear equations, visit http://www.waldomaths.com/Equation2NL.jsp

Help with . . . partial differentiation

For help with understanding partial differentiation, there is a good
explanation in the textbook 'Foundation Maths', by Anthony Croft and Robert Davison. There are many copies of this book in the main library, Whiteknights; you'll find them on the second floor, with shelf-mark 510-CRO.

There are also some video tutorials on partial differentiation on the
website www.khanacademy.org (no username or password needed). Scroll down to the section on 'Calculus' (it's in the third of the four columns), and then scroll down further until you reach the topics 'Partial derivatives' and 'Partial derivatives 2'.

Help with . . . preparing for the Numeracy QTS skills test

Practice Questions 1 QTS Numeracy skills test

Practice Questions for QTS mental arithmetic percentages (1)

Help with psychometric tests

Applicants to many companies are now required to take numerical psychometric tests. These workshops will give you practice in answering typical questions (please bring a calculator).  

No need to book - just turn up

This term's and next term's Psychometric Test workshops are on Wednesdays 21 March and 6 June 2012, in room 106 of the University Library, 14:00-15:00. No need to book. Please bring your calculator.

Help with Statistics and Probability

1) For help with statistics and probability questions, please come to the Maths Support Centre desk, where we can advise you on the best way to get the help you need. Alternatively, send an email to mathssupport@reading.ac.uk , describing the topic/s you need help with.

Depending on what the topic is that you need help with, we will either:

• help you straight away; or

• offer you an appointment to see our specialist statistics tutor: appointments are available on Tuesdays during term time from 2 to 4pm.

2) Here is a list of some useful statistics text books in the University library.

3) For help with SPSS or MINITAB, both short courses and online tutorials are available (as well as support classes that are organised by individual lecturers for some modules), as follows:

For SPSS and MINITAB short courses, visit the IT services timetable by topic page .

For online tutorials, visit the Statistics Packages Tutorials.

4) If you need help with statistics relating to a PhD, please consult the Statistical Advisory Service. Their website is: Statistical Advisory Service

5) For a very large collection of video tutorials on probability and statistical topics, visit www.khanacademy.org and scroll down to the sections on 'Probability' and 'Statistics'.

These topics are included:

Laws of probability

Permutations and combinations

Probability density functions

Binomial probability

Poisson probability

Standard deviation and variance

Expectation

Normal distribution

 

'How to solve it'

The famous book 'How to solve it' by George Polya (1887-1985) contains many useful hints and tips for solving mathematical problems. First published in 1945, the book has been reprinted many times since, and is currently available as a Penguin paperback. It can be found in the University library, shelfmark 510.76-POL.